A seafarer was medevaced to a hospital on the French island of Reunion yesterday following a nasty altercation with a colleague the day prior in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Crew from the LR 2 tanker
STI Guard, owned by Scorpio Tankers, made contact with authorities on the French island on Monday morning, asking for urgent medical help after a seafarer was stabbed twice in the thorax. The ship was heading to Singapore from Ust-Luga in Russia when the incident happened 300 nautical miles southwest of Reunion. The vessel then made for the French island while receiving medical advice from French authorities. The man who stabbed the seafarer was being held in a cabin.

After 24 hours the injured sailor was helicoptered off the ship and the vessel is now set to stay in Reunion for the coming days as an investigation gets underway.

This is the second stabbing reported on a cargo ship in the past 1o days. On January 28, a Serbian crewmember onboard the MSC Marta boxship injured three of his crewmates in a knifing incident off Guyana.

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.